Replying To Blackbog: "I am told there was a big attendance.?"
One of the biggest attendance at a first round league game I can remember(bar 2019 when we played our first game in div 3) Stand was close to full & decent crowd on terrace. Oisin McConville factor ensured a decent Wicklow support there also
carlo (Carlow) - Posts: 145 - 29/01/2023 12:18:01
2454904
Thks Carlo for a decent read-out on the match - current 'exiles' from the county such as myself appreciate it. From a quick look at the Twitter footage on the Carlow GAA account the opposition goalie gift wrapped our two goals - we might not have it as handy down the road.
I agree 1000% on discipline - it has absolutely killed us over the years - it is an essential that lads are coached on this at inter-co level. Anyways, we came back to draw the game, you can always think on this missed chance or the other to have pipped a win ... In Div 4 as we have seen before any team is capable of taking points off the other on the day so it will be interesting to see how things progress over the next few weeks.
Finally, Saturday evening is good for a game, it will always draw a bit of a crowd down town later on
Replying To carlo: "Positives, 3 points down in 2nd half with 14 men & fought back for a draw. We even had the last kick of game to win it but unfortunately it was too far out of range for Foley. We would have lost that game a year or 2 ago. Negatives, gave away so many handy frees in front of goal, we can't seem to hold up the player but instead pull them down for a handy tap over free. Their goalie also kicked at least 3 frees from fouls a little further out. Our shot selection was questionable at times & we often ran out of ideas in attack & got turned over. We also left a couple of goals behind us. Doyle was unlucky with the 2nd yellow but when your already booked you have to be so careful. How many times do Carlow Football & Hurling teams shoot ourselves in the foot with getting men sent off??? To be honest Moran was also blessed not to get a 2nd yellow, the ref obviously didn't want to send off a 2nd Carlow man. Now I wouldn't ref in a million years & they have such a hard job but he hadn't a good game last night for both sides. Div 4 teams are always the guinea pigs for new refs to earn their stripes but he was so fussy & nearly every tackle was a yellow card. If he reffed a div 1 game like that he would never get another game. There must have been 10 cards in a game without a dirty stroke. Anyway onwards to Waterford. Other game was a draw also so not too much ground lost. This young team is getting more experienced & dug out a draw when it looked like a defeat."
Just to add to this, I though Carlow's fitness was very good. Wicklow started to flag in the last 15/10 minutes and struggled to get around the pitch and press Carlow when they had possession. Carlow over the same period, outscored Wicklow three to one and had a chance at the end to win it, which is something having played nearly all the second half a man down.
Attendance was unreal, great to see so many kids on the field at half time.
Onto Waterford on Sunday, needs to be a win if they have aspirations of getting promotion.
Yeah I never saw a crowd like it for a league game but in fairness they had done a lot to build it up in the schools this week so a lot of kids made mammy or daddy bring them. And hopefully they'll be back in what was an always entertaining game. Lots of mistakes and thrills and spills. Saturday night football under lights is a winner also. So many young fellas there went to the game as the start of their Saturday night in the town so hopefully plenty more of these Saturday games. Although I see the big one v Leix is a Sunday afternoon but that will surely bring another big crowd to the grounds.
I thought the Wicklow inside line was very dangerous Darcy showed great quick hands for their second goal but elsewhere around the pitch I thought we had the better ballers. Midway thru the first half we'd win well as we were really getting on top and out running them but we lacked what they had up front so we didn't kill them off when we could. The sending off was huge though it denied us that ability to run with numbers off the shoulder and they had more of it in the second and looked like they'd hold out but the last 15 mins from us was great to see they weren't going to lose it great fight and again we found legs in the last quarter so good sign re fitness.
We play them again in the championship and I'd be fairly confident that with a dry ball and top of the ground we'd have too much for them but only if we cut out the ball into their two dangerous inside forwards. On top of the ground we'd have too much pace. I'd say and great to see such a young Carlow team out last Saturday. 3-4 years time with experience we could have another very good side. Just to find another few forwards as foley won't last forever. He had a great game is a great leader for these young lads. Some servant fair pay to him.
A point gained and a decent performance from the panel. Subs brought in did make a difference especially O' Neill. Fitter overall than Wicklow and we were handed 2 goals by their keeper
No doubt that we gave away quite a few frees that Wicklow scored and that is a big area for the management to work on.
Playing with 14 for 34 minutes was not easy but the team managed it without any fuss. Real fire in their belly too when they got the scent of a chance to get a result. Will be interesting to see how the team responds against Waterford.
Went down tonight, decent win we never looked like losing it, it's going to get a lot harder from here on though, waterford offered very little in terms of a forward threat and only for our silly fouling infront of goals the gap would have been far greater.
Replying To Bainisteoir: "A it of a trimming from Kildare an reports? Are we slipping?"
An inexperienced team out yesterday. A look at the team and subs used shows that we have a lot of players to come back. Players are being given game time which augurs well. Plenty of injuries and some unavailable. Would not be too worried yet but next week will be another serious test. We will need a full panel to make an impact on McDonagh.